Red Snow
by vetgirl1293
Summary: A look into the events of Glacial Village. When Hiei's mother, Hina, had become pregnant out of turn she, and her unborn children, faced extreme danger. “She will not be hurt, but I cannot speak for her child.” RuiHina. A Hiei and Yukina's Mother one-shot


This is another Valentine's Day Yu Yu Hakusho story. After I saw episodes 99 and 100 (This was _quite_ a while back) I found myself wondering what exactly went on in Glacial Village. Scarily enough this is the product of those thoughts.

I hope you enjoy this, It took a lot of time. This is also the longest thing I've ever written for Yu Yu Hakusho.

I realize I'm treading on dangerous ground not writing about Hiei and Kurama, but I felt that my theory of what happened should be told. So behold. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters named here. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi and Co.

Happy Valentine's Day!

* * *

**Red Snow**

"Hina, you're back already!" A young Koorime yelled across the icy fields of Glacial Village, hoping against sensibility that her voice would carry. An exceptionally beautiful Koorime looked up, smiling, and waved.

The girl named Hina lugged a small suitcase in her hand and walked quickly towards her friend.

"Oh, Rui! You must take a trip with me next time!" Hina gushed excitedly. She stopped when she reached Rui and gave her a kiss of greeting.

--X--

"You should see the outside, everything is so wonderful. Oh, and so warm!" Hina had uttered as soon as they had reached the comfort of shelter.

"It's not as if it is cold here," Rui said, furrowing her brow.

"Not if you've never left the village. Things are so different! I've met the most wonderful man." Her features softened as she sighed.

"Men are evil!" Rui had exclaimed, blood boiling.

Hina had laughed a beautiful melodious laugh. "I thought so too, but then I left this repressive village. You'll see, we'll go to the Village Elders tomorrow and apply for permission to vacation."

_"Hina is not making any sense," _thought Rui vehemently. Just by saying such a ridiculous thing she had just challenged everything their entire race was built on. _Men are evil_ was law number one. Who needed them? They had longed ago branch off from the oppressive Makai land of their origination and left all men behind. Men were stupid, their only purpose was that of mating and the Koorime solved that problem.

All Hina needed was her fellow Koorime, and Rui.

--X--

Quietly Rui slipped away from her own mother's hut. She would, of course keep her promise to Hina, to meet her tonight by the frozen waterfall. She had said that something had come up, something important that she needed to talk to her about it in private.

Rui smiled. Maybe it was the admission she was hoping for. Hina was the fairest and purest Koorime in all of Glacial Village and Rui had gradually fallen in love with her from the time they were children. She was not like the others and held warmth that this place needed. So Rui rushed to the waterfall and waited. Hina must be running late, thought Rui. Just as the thought crossed her mind, Hina appeared panting and clutching her stomach.

"Rui, sorry I'm late. I think we must push up our trip outside the village."

"Why must we leave earlier than planned?"

"I'm… Rui, I'm with child!" Hina said face glowing.

"How could this be possible, we were born the same year should we not be with child at the same time?" Rui said, dumbfounded.

"The man I met, that Fire Demon. When we met, we immediately fell in love. We made love, Rui. It was beautiful and he fathered this child. In three days I will leave to inform him of this and I won't come back. Please say you will come with me, Rui?"

Rui closed her eyes, her heart shattering.

"I will."

--X--

"I'm home mother!" Rui yelled bright and early the next morning. "The skimmias needed some tending, the ones by the Village Square."

"That's good Rui. The Village Elder will surely look at your good deeds when you get older." Her mother nodded her approval. "Have you seen Hina lately? She's been back for nearly 4 months and I saw her for the first time yesterday, at the Food Stall. Her stomach has grown round. What do you know of this?" Her mother questioned.

"She is with child." Rui solemnly murmured.

"Oh, my god…" Her Mother whispered.

"I know this is wrong, she has made a mistake, but Mother please, you mustn't tell anyone of this!" Rui beseeched.

"But she has interacted with a male, who knows what could come of this. She has done the unspeakable, the unforgivable. The elders will want to know." Her mother said somberly.

"She is leaving in two days; she can have the child in secret! Please don't let them hurt her!"

"She will not be hurt, but I cannot speak for her child."

Gasping, Rui fled.

--X--

Rui ran as fast as she could in the slippery snow, pushing her undeveloped muscles to their full extent. They screamed in protest and Tear gems fell freely to the floor. She had betrayed Rui. Why had she told her Mother? It was stupid and senseless.

It was revenge…

Rui cursed herself; Hina not loving her was a stupid reason for telling her Mother. And she would not be able to take this back. Body aching she reached Hina's home and threw the door open and lurched inside.

"Hina quickly we must leave the village tonight, The Elders, I'm sorry so, so sorry."

"What's wrong? The trip isn't for two days; we have time and I have yet to pack."

"That is the problem, we haven't the time! My mother has found out about your child…. she's informed the elders! We must leave quickly!"

"How did they find out?"

Rui fell silent.

"Rui?" Hina demanded.

"I didn't mean to…" She whispered.

"Oh, Rui, no… My baby… my beautiful baby…" Hina murmured hopelessly. Rui reached for her as she fell to her knees. Hina shrieked and slapped Rui across the face.

"How could you do this?" Hina screamed, clutching her stomach.

"I could not lie to my Mother." Rui whispered, gently touching her reddening face.

"They will kill my baby! My baby will breathe one breath before they murder it, and you stand there and tell me you could not lie! Not once!"

"I could not! That would risk _my_ life. Hina, Mother said you won't be hurt but your child is in danger. Let us just leave now and we can pretend none of this ever happened!" Rui pleaded.

"You chose your own life over that of a child's?" Hina paused. "I cannot forget something like this. But yes, we will leave now. I will give birth to the child and when it is of age, I will return and repent for my sins." Hina looked fiercely into Rui's eyes and Rui could feel the mistrust hiding behind her exterior.

"Let's go." Not another word was said as they rushed to gather Hina's things. Rui grabbed Hina's hand as Hina had closed her bag and stuck some food in her kimono's sleeve. Still gripping each other's hands, they ran out of the hut.

--X--

"Not so fast! The baby will be hurt!" Hina yelled gasping for breath.

"We haven't the time. The jumping point is so close. They could catch us any moment." As soon as Rui uttered the words, she wished she hadn't. They had walked into a trap. All around them were the women that she recognized as the Village Elders Council. The head of the council was directly in front of them.

"No…" Hina whispered. They were being surrounded by a thick wall of ice that was covered in wards and charms to prevent escape. The Elders worked swiftly, dancing and weaving until the wall was complete and unbreakable. Hina was sobbing and tear gems were quickly hitting the ground.

Rui blinked. This wasn't happening. This _couldn't_ be happening. She looked at her hands with the sudden realization of what she had done. The blood would be on her hands.

She hoped the gems would crush her to death.

--X--

"Hina, I've brought your food." Rui said cheerfully walking into the barren room that held Hina. Such a room was used only once every 10,000 years or so and Hina had incurred its wrath. She sat in a corner, caressing her round belly.

No response.

"Hina, come on! It has been a month; can't you forgive? We tried running. I tried running." The chambers became unbearably warm, as if in response. Rui grimaced; spawn of a Fire Demon indeed.

"Hina, please, surely you see the cause for all this alarm? The child you will bear may try and kill us all. Think of me not as your prison guard but as your friend. As someone who loves you more than life. As someone who sees the danger you've put yourself in…" Rui begged. She looked at Hina but her head remained lowered to the ground.

"The baby is aware, you know. As it rests in my womb, it is burdened by the hatred that our society holds for it, this innocent child," Hina whispered, her voice didn't sound like her own; "I don't see why my child is to be the product of sin. This little one was made out of love." Hina whispered. Something in Rui had snapped, and all she could think about was that Hina had put her love in the wrong place. She was seeing red.

"The love you hold for that man is **impure**! Why can't you accept that?! Why couldn't you have stayed here? Why couldn't you have loved me! You go to a man before your own kind!_** I**_ love you! Now because of this man, because of _his_ child, you are suffering! Do you think that I would do something like that?" Rui bellowed.

"I'm sorry. But you did. You are the reason I am trapped in here. In a room covered in wards and charms that will bring me to agony."

"An eye for an eye..." Rui muttered. She looked up for the first time and stared at Rui squarely in the eye.

"…Leaves the whole world blind."

--X--

"_Have you heard? Not only is she carrying a man's child but there are two of them."_

"_Twins? Oh her poor mother! The nerve of that girl bringing her mother's good name to shame, may she rest in peace."_

"_More like pieces… The elders are perplexed they say. Never in all their years have they come across such an extreme case. Because of her they've postponed all vacations."_

"_What do you think they will do? Kill them?"_

"_What else? They have to get rid of the babies some way…"_

Rui couldn't get the conversation out of her head. Twins… Why had no one told her?

It would explain Hina's overly large stomach…

She hoped they were girls, lest there be more tragedy in the small island.

--X--

"Can we trust you with this? As her friend, will you be able to deliver these children and not create a situation in which she could run?" The Elder questioned as Rui was lowered in respect.

"I can."

"Good. She is due to give birth in a week. You must get everything ready. The bundles in which you wrap the children in should be ready tomorrow. I suggest you go inform her that should she not struggle; her punishment would be deemed served."

"I will."

"Good, you are dismissed."

"Thank you, my lady." Unfolding herself off the ground Rui headed for Hina's Chambers, hoping it was just a little bit cooler today.

--X--

Screams echoed through the chambers as Rui and two other Maidens rushed around trying to gather the wards and herbs.

"I need some towels!" Rui exclaimed as Hina let out a cry of distress.

"It's coming out, it's coming!" Rui yells and the other maidens know to get the bundle ready. "Push, Hina!" Hina give one last push and as she falls quiet the others in the room gasp. In their shock, they drop the bundle. The reality of the situation has just hit them.

"Hina, it's a boy…." Rui whispers. Out of kindness they let her hold him, if only for a moment.

That moment is the only moment that little boy got with his mother.

--X--

After the birth Rui went to the Elder.

"What are the children?" The Elder asks harshly.

"One male Fire Demon and one female Koorime, the girl does not seem to take after her beast of a father." Rui replies. She wants to save one; she wants to redeem her betrayal.

"Very well, the girl will be kept. But she will not be treated as the others are. She will be treated harsher. She'll be given potions to suppress her Fire Demon heritage. We can't risk another Hina. The boy... the boy we must get rid of. Tomorrow, you will throw him over the edge." Rui could only blink.

"You are dismissed."

She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

--X--

_"Did you hear, Hina gave birth to twins? ... and one of them's a __**boy**_

--X--

"Rui, I know that you and Hina are close friends, and that this is difficult for you but you must do this for her own good, and yours, and ours. This Emiko, this boy of fire, will slaughter us all!" The Elder bellowed. She seemed to take extra care to make this child's birth an example and her voice grated against Rui's ears.

"I'm sorry," Rui says lowly, hoping not to be heard. But she is.

"Do not pity the beast!" The Elder snapped. Rui looked down at the baby. It's a handsome one and she sees the same resistance in his eyes that she had always seen in Hina.

"You killed my son!" She hears Hina scream. She closes her eyes and gently places the Tear Gem that Hina cried upon the moment of her son's (whom the had dubbed Hiei, the Emiko, The Cursed Child of the Glacial Village) birth into his bundle.

"_When you come back seeking the revenge that you, and we, deserve"_ She thinks, _"Please, kill me first. It's the least I can offer to atone for what I'm about to do." _She opens her eyes and lets him fall.

"My baby!" Hina screeches behind her.

At least... she had saved the girl.

--X--

"Hina, I'm here with Yukina's potions!" Rui shouted outside of her door. There is no answer so she knocks.

"Hina?" Still no replay and she begins to feel worried when she hears 6-month-old Yukina cry, she worries because while Yukina is already big, she could be hurt. Rui, anxiously, lets herself in to see a bawling Yukina rubbing her ruby eyes.

"Hey, Yukina," She picks her up. "Where is your mother?" Yukina points to the table. A note lay on it; Rui picks it up and scans it.

Putting Yukina back in her crib she runs outside, leaving the door open.

--X--

"_Don't let it be too late," _She thinks. But upon reaching Hina's favorite spot, the frozen waterfall, she realizes she is too late.

There was Hina's body lying ten feet in front of the frozen rush of water with a pillar of ice through her stomach. Rui rushed forward, and tenderly touched the body. Even in death, she lost no beauty. Hina had been killed by the coldness she had tried to escape.

But it had caught up to her.

Rui looked down at her hands.

This time, the blood _was _on her hands.

* * *

Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts? Questions? Leave a review, please!

Edited against vetgirl1293's wishes of changing nothing after V-day: 3/30/08


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